Photo by Lars Ranek

Deep Fried Tuna Maki

Roberto, a Mexican chef who used to sous chef for me, first introduced this naughty shift snack as he would often make sushi as he knew it from Mexico City were he learned his sushi skills. First I was shocked as this was such a departure from classic sushi, but the staff who craved something rich loved this sushi roll. We nicknamed it the ‘triple bypass batter’ for its rich cream cheese, fatty unagi and double-frying technique, but re-invented in a learner incarnation featuring tuna instead of the original eel. This dish is still no saint, but is is delicious to share and proved a stellar success with my old customers. Furthermore it’s innovation also overcame our move away from serving unagi.

Makes 20 pieces, 2 rolls, plenty for 4 as part of a sushi meal.

200 grams sushi rice

2 sheets nori cut to 4/5 size

200 grams OO flour + extra for dusting

2 tablespoons potato flour

2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda

200 ml. sparkling water

flaky sea salt and pepper

1 litre rapeseed oil

2 pieces of spring onions

100 grams raw yellow fin tuna

40 grams full fate cream cheese

4 teaspoons kimchee base

sweet chili or soy sauce to serve

First make a portion of sushi rice following the recipe here. While the rice is resting and cooking prepare the rest of the ingredients. To make the tempura batter add ice cold sparkling water to a jug, followed by the bicarbonate of soda, the OO flour and the potato flour. Now gently mix the batter by stabbing a whisk up and down without the temptation of whisking rigorously, small lumps of flour and air bubbles. The batter should have the thickness of single cream. Now leave to rest in the fridge whilst preparing the remainder of the ingredients.

Peel, trim and clean spring onions, cut in to thin pieces on the diagonal. Line a shallow tray with kitchen towel. Cut the tuna into strips of approximately 2 cm diameter. Pour a couple of tablespoons of flour onto a plate, season with salt and pepper. Wrap a sushi mat in rolling film and finish sushi rice, create a work station ready to roll the sushi.

Pour the oil into a wok and heat to 180 degrees. Dust the tuna strips ensuring the have a thin even coating throughout. Take the batter from the fridge, check if the oil is the right temperature with a thermometer or gently drop a few drops of batter in the oil to see if these crisp up. Now add the tuna to the batter and lift them out of the batter with a set of tongs, one by one, and add them to the oil. Be careful not to drop in the oil as it will back splash, but instead using the tongs to launch the tuna pieces gently in the very hot oil. Fry all the pieces for 2 minutes each, remove from the oil and place on the kitchen towel. Sprinkle with sea salt.

Now make the sushi rolls, Place the nori on a rolling mat and spread 100 grams of sushi rice evenly across the sheet leaving a tap of 2 centimetres uncovered at the top. In the middles of the sushi rice spread 20 grams of cream cheese across followed by 2 teaspoons of kimchee marinade, place half of the fried tuna pieces on top and the sprinkle with half of the spring onions. Now roll the filling very tightly, this will keep its shape during the second frying. Repeat with the remainder of the ingredients and cut all rolls in half.

Now return to the frying. Fry no more than 2 pieces at the time as overcrowding the oil will cause the temperature to drop to quickly and the batter may turn out sloppy. Roll the rolls in flour for dusting ensuring a fine even coating, then dip in the batter. Lift out of the batter with a set on tongs and hover over the jug for few seconds to ensure that some of the batter slides of the roll before transferring to the hot oil. Fry no more 2 rolls at the time and for less than a minute, just to cook the batter as all the other ingredients are already cooked. Transfer to the kitchen towel, sprinkled with sea salt and repeat process.

Cut each block into 5 pieces and serve with sweet chili sauce or soy sauce, eat immediately.